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Originally Posted by darryl
I didn't mind some of his earlier stuff but have managed to steer largely clear of him for years. His writing style is actually on the simplistic side, which is not at all meant to demean him or imply that it is sub-standard. His sales figures say otherwise. But I think most of his work that I have read would be quite at home with a YA label, except for the themes.
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His MAXIMUM RIDE series is labeled YA. It is a fantasy series focused on young protagonists on the run from evil adults.
He is a firm believer in short chapters, fast plots, and clear, accessible prose.
So a lot of what gets tagged YA is following in his footsteps, especially the adult stuff.
To understand his style and the success it's earned him all you need to know is he started out as a Madison Avenue ad man.
Highly recommended:
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2...hor?verso=true
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The first 25 years of Patterson’s career were spent in advertising, culminating with his tenure as C.E.O. of the North American branch of J. Walter Thompson, the giant international agency, where he was also creative director and led the “Aren’t You Hungry?” campaign for Burger King, while writing fiction on the side. His first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, about a Nashville newspaperman on a murderer’s trail, was rejected by 31 publishers before Little, Brown published it, in 1976. It won the Edgar Award for best first novel from the Mystery Writers of America, but sold only about 10,000 copies. Since then—and especially since 1996, when he quit advertising to write full-time—Patterson has proved that his readers have insatiable appetites. He has produced a slew of books—detective series, stand-alone romances, illustrated novels for young adults and for middle-school readers—across a sea of genres, accounting, by his own estimate, for about 30 percent of Little, Brown’s total revenues. He is intimately involved in designing his books and devising their marketing and advertising campaigns, with the help of a special in-house unit of half a dozen staffers at Little, Brown dedicated solely to serving the Patterson empire.
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He is an unabashed writer of commercial books whose books easily adapt to movies and TV. How he got into (actual) YA:
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When Patterson’s only son, Jack, now 16 and a student at Hotchkiss, was in grade school and proving to be a reluctant reader, Patterson decided to take aim at a new demographic. As he put it when we spoke, “I can write for these little creeps.” Patterson launched a multi-series line of young-adult and children’s novels—“Maximum Ride,” “Witch & Wizard,” “Treasure Hunters,” and “I Funny”—that fill not only the shelves of every Barnes & Noble but those of your local grocery store too. Now Patterson produces a dozen titles a year, and there seems to be no upward limit to his overall sales.
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He teaches (paid, of course) online writing classes.
https://www.masterclass.com/classes/...eaches-writing
He's probably best described as an entrepreneurial writer rather than a literary writer. He produces entertainment, not literature. Much like ERB, people will be reading his stories long after the literary icons of today are forgotten.
I'm not his target audience but I can respect a guy that knows what he's doing and does it very well.